I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine
by questionableatbest
Summary: Speeches are given at a Bellarke wedding reception, but not everything is as it seems!


I'm pretty sure writing a marriage fic is rite of passage, so here goes nothing!

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><p>Lexa gave the first speech, which surprised everybody. Clarke and Bellamy were sitting at a makeshift table just outside of the dropship with everybody else gathered in a half circle around it, so when the leader of the Grounders got up to speak she turned her back on everybody else, facing the newly married couple.<p>

"Marriage is not a custom that my people are familiar with, but when I look at the two of you it makes sense," she started, in a voice so filled with honesty that it brought tears to Clarke's eyes. "In our minds, the idea of two people spending their lives together is optimistic at best, and relatively old-fashioned. That being said, if anybody can make it work I have no doubt that it will be the two of you, and on behalf of my people I would like to wish you best of luck. You two in particular have shown yourselves to be worthy allies, and we hope to work with you again in the future."

Clarke had moved past the emotions that had originally overcame her, and was surprised when Bellamy put his arm around her, pulled her into his side, pressed a kiss to her forehead, and then whispered in her ear, "Is it just me, or was that equally uplifting and threatening."

Shocked by what he frank tone, she made a noise that sounded like cry for help disguised as a laugh, before shushing him. "Not here, Bellamy; we're two happy newlyweds- nobody wants to threaten us!"

"Whatever you say, Mrs. Blake," he said, louder than necessary with a smirk on his face that only grew bigger when people burst into cheers upon hearing what he'd called her.

Before she got a chance to retaliate, Octavia stepped in front of them, looking like she had just won the lottery. Clarke could have sworn she heard Bellamy whisper, "Oh, God help me," under his breath, but decided to leave him be so that they could listen to her sister-in-laws speech.

"Hi everyone, Bellamy, Clarke" she said, suddenly appearing shy but continuing when she saw the encouraging look her brother was giving her.

"You guys know me, and you know that I always have a lot to say, and I could probably talk all night if you'd let me, but I'm sure there are other things you'd rather be doing on your wedding night," the sly look on her face paired with that comment had the majority of the people in attendance cheering, Bellamy included, while Clarke simply buried her face in his chest until Octavia continued, sheepishly. "Sorry Clarke. Anyways, I actually wanted to address most of this to you- I've known Bellamy my whole life, and I'm pretty sure I know him better than anybody, and I just want to make sure that you know how lucky you are to be married to him."

"Everybody knows my story; I was committing a crime by being born even though I had no say in it. Bellamy didn't really have a say in it either, and he was a kid at the time, and he didn't know what he was getting into." Knowing that Bellamy wasn't particularly comfortable discussing the topic in question, Clarke reached under the table and patted his knee in reassurance. "But he never held it against me. He never got mad, or frustrated, or angry; he's taken care of me my whole life- he practically raised me, and he's loved me unconditionally, because that's what he does. I know, everybody sees this scary, badass leader, but once you get past that he is the kindest man you will ever meet, and he will love you so, so fiercely. You're married to him now, so you've obviously seen that, but promise me you'll do your best to remember it, no matter what? Because trust me, he can also be stupid, and pig-headed, and over-protective, and just plain annoying, but that's because he wants what's best for you."

"And Bellamy," she said suddenly, wiping away the tears that were lining her eyes and turning to face her brother. "Clarke is one of my best friends. She is fantastic, and smart, and brave, and beautiful, and I love you more than anything, but if you ever hurt her I will make you pay. That being said, you guys are two of the most important people in the world to me, and I'm so glad you're together, because we all see how happy you make each other and you guys deserve to be happy."

Octavia received a standing ovation for her speech but ignored the cheers of everybody around her, instead throwing her arms around Bellamy and whispering, "I love you, big brother," into his ear.

Clarke heard Bellamy respond, "I love you to, O," but did her best to ignore it and look away, feeling like she was intruding on their moment.

Because of that, she was surprised when Octavia pulled her out of her chair and wrapped her arms around her. "Welcome to the family, sis," she said, before pulling back, looking Clarke in the eye, and laughing at the shocked expression the other girl was making. "I meant it, you know- if he ever gives you trouble, just let me know and I'll kick his ass."

At that, Clarke laughed louder than she had all night, ignoring Bellamy's indignant noise as she pulled the younger Blake back into her arms for another hug, before he finally spoke up, "Okay come on O, give her back- she's _my_ wife, remember?"

Ignoring how happy she felt to hear Bellamy call her his wife, Clarke settled back into her seat and Octavia went off to find Lincoln, which left the floor open for whoever else wanted to give a speech.

Abby Griffin stood up next, stopping in the middle of the clearing. "Clarke, you have grown up so much this past year. Whenever I looked at you when I first landed on earth, all I could see was my baby- I thought you were a child. But I was wrong. Bellamy, you helped me see the women that my daughter really is. You trusted her, and you believed in her, and through your eyes I was able to see just how special she truly is. I'll be the first to admit, I wasn't happy when I heard about your relationship and I was even less happy to hear about this wedding, but I was wrong; it's obvious how much you two love each other, and that's really all you can ask for. Clarke, I'm so, so proud of you, and I always will be, and now I'm also proud to call Bellamy my son-in-law."

Nobody cheered for Abby, but there was a polite round of applause. She didn't move any closer to Clarke, and Clarke didn't expect her to. But, through the tears that had once again appeared in her eyes, Clarke did smile at her mother and mouth the words, 'thanks, mom.'

She was still caught up in their little moment when she felt Bellamy's breath tickle her ear. "Do you think it killed her to say that?"

Shaking her head, Clarke turned to whisper back in a patronizing voice, "Honey, don't be rude to your mother-in-law!"

Clarke felt him shudder at that, but any further discussion between the two of them was cut off by Jasper and Monty stumbling in front of the couple, to the cheers of everyone around them.

"This'll be good," Clarke muttered, amused by the antics of her friends who had clearly enjoyed the fruit of their labors in regards to the moonshine they had provided.

"We would first like to take this opportunity to congratulate the happy couple," Jasper started their speech, bowing to the people in question. "We all knew it was only a matter of time before mom and dad got together and made it official!"

Once the cheering died down, Monty continued where Jasper had left off. "Now, we would like to collect on a couple of bets! Raven, Miller, Murphy? I believe you owe us!"

While Bellamy stared at his friends in disbelief, Clarke was practically doubled over in laughter. When she was finally able to compose herself, she caught Bellamy giving her a strange look. "What?"

"Nothing Princess," he shook his head, and while Clarke didn't believe him, she was far too amused watching her friends fight over who had won the bet to push him on it.

The speeches carried on throughout the night, and as time wore on they got more and more creative. At one point, a couple of the younger girls even performed a song and dance number, which earned them each a hug from Bellamy, much to their delight.

When Murphy stood up to talk most people were too intoxicated to know what was really going on, which was probably for the best. Clarke stiffened, and Bellamy pulled her closer as he started talking.

"The Princess and her Knight, finally together," Murphy slurred, causing Clarke to feel even more anxious. "What a story, what a story! True love, and all that…"

He continued talking, but Clarke was too scared to pay attention. She knew it was rude of her, but she couldn't stand to listen to the rest of what he was saying, so she stood up (silencing him in the process) and ran.

She heard Bellamy stand up behind her and yell at everybody who stared, but she didn't stay to see what would happen. She ran until she was at her tent- their tent- and then she collapsed in the bed, lying there, waiting for him to inevitably show up.

"You want to tell me what that was about?" He asked, not waiting for a response before he moved to sit beside her and place a hand soothingly on her back. While at first touching each other had been part of their act, it was the most natural way for both of them to communicate and became normal to them very quickly, though Clarke couldn't accept that at the moment.

"Murphy knows- he could have ruined everything," she explained near hysteria, still trying to figure out what had given them away to him.

"Clarke, he's not going to tell anybody, and if he does I'll take care of him," Bellamy comforted her, and she knew he was right.

She rolled over, escaping his touch and sitting up in the process. "Bellamy, I can't do this to you," she started, only to be silenced by him.

"You're not making me do anything I don't want to do, Princess," he assured her, more forcefully than he ever had before. "I wanted to marry you."

"Bellamy, please!" She exploded, needing him to understand. "You don't want to marry me! You're just doing this to protect me from that stupid Grounder ritual, but that's not fair to you! God, you don't deserve this. I'm sure it's not too late to call it off- I'll just go talk to everybody, and explain what happened to Lexa- I can have a child with a Grounder, it wouldn't be that bad, right?"

She was looking to him for comfort, but he wasn't offering any. "Clarke, be honest: would you rather have a Grounder's baby than be married to me?"

"I-" she began to reason before he cut her off.

"Answer the question." His face showed no sign of emotion, but the look in his eye told her that he knew the truth.

"No," she sighed, hoping that if she said it quietly enough it wouldn't be real.

"Okay, then I want you to listen to me very carefully," he said slowly, not giving her time to respond before he started talking again. "Clarke Griffin, I care about you. Other than O, I'd say I care about you more than anybody else on this goddam planet, and even then, it's not the same thing- it's different with you. I wanted to marry you, and I'm glad that I did, and you and I are going to stay married."

"Bellamy, I know you care about me- I care about you too, okay? That's why I can't let you do this," she insisted, ignoring the annoyed look on his face.

"Clarke, what do you think you're stopping me from doing? Do you see any other prospects lined up at my door waiting to marry me?" He asked, before realizing that it probably wasn't the best question. "Actually, don't answer that. But really, we lead a group of delinquent teenagers- did you really think marriage was in my future before all of this? Because it wasn't, but I had thought about it and trust me, you're the only person that it ever made sense with."

She let out a deep breath at that, and with it went all of her will to fight. Instead, she looked at Bellamy, hoping that he would explain himself before she deflated entirely.

"Come on Clarke, does it really surprise you? I mean, we run this place together, we make a great team, you're smart, brave, charismatic, strong-headed, ridiculously stubborn, you're right all of the time which is actually really annoying but in a good way, and you're beautiful. What else could I want?" He asked, desperately hoping that he hadn't overstepped the boundaries of their fake relationship.

"Okay," she agreed, relaxing for the first time that night.

"Okay? I bare my soul to you and all I get is 'okay'?" Bellamy joked, though she could tell that he was hurt by her lack of a response, which is why she closed the little space between them with a kiss.

They'd done it before, when they'd announced their engagement, and countless other times to try and convince people of the charade, and at their wedding a couple of hours earlier, but for the first time, Clarke allowed herself to believe that it could mean something more.

She could tell he was caught off guard, but only for a moment before one of his hands went to cradle the side of her face and the other wrapped around her body, pulling her into his lap. His lips stayed on hers the whole time, quickly claiming dominance while simultaneously managing to stay gentle.

It lasted forever, and it was over too soon, and then Clarke was looking into his eyes with nothing left to hide behind.

"I swear to god, if you ask me if I'm sure about this one more time I don't know what I'll do," Bellamy warned before placing a chaste kiss on her lips, and then leaning back and lying down in their bed. "Now, I'm exhausted."

Clarke took that moment to look at Bellamy; her husband. She saw the laugh lines on his face, and the peaceful look in his eyes, and the smile that he reserved for a few special people. She saw the way that one of his hands was placed on her knee in a gesture that made her feel safer than she was willing to admit, and she saw the way that he eventually closed his eyes, but still waited patiently for her to join him.

And when she did lie down and curl into his side, she felt his arms wrap around her as he kissed the top of her head and whispered, "Goodnight, Mrs. Blake," and she decided to let him get away with it just for one night because, against all odds, they were happily married.

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><p>Just to clarify, I know nothing about Grounder traditionsmarriages, so in my mind they don't do the whole marriage thing, because (I'm assuming) they don't live very long lives (they're always fighting and stuff, so yeah) and it wouldn't make sense for them to settle down. Going on that logic, Clarke having a baby with a Grounder would symbolize their people coming together, which made more sense to me when I first wrote this, but that was at 2:30 in the morning, so just go with it!


End file.
